


the beauty of the road being long

by cinderlily



Category: As the World Turns
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-14
Updated: 2010-06-14
Packaged: 2017-10-10 03:05:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/94781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinderlily/pseuds/cinderlily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Noah attempts to be civil to Reid. This really should be more of a comfort to Luke.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the beauty of the road being long

**Author's Note:**

> [](http://openice.livejournal.com/profile)[**openice**](http://openice.livejournal.com/) held my hand a LOT during this one, and talked me out of scrapping it at 2200 words, so thank you Jenna. ♥ Also, [](http://sripley.livejournal.com/profile)[**sripley**](http://sripley.livejournal.com/) has been nothing but kind and amazing since I sheepishly asked for some help. Seriously, thank you! (written for [](http://community.livejournal.com/lureficresource/profile)[**lureficresource**](http://community.livejournal.com/lureficresource/) for the prompt : "Noah is attempting to be civilized toward Reid, for the sake of the hospital. Surprisingly, he's doing a convincing job of it. So convincing, in fact, that Luke is starting to feel some jealousy."... it veered off course a bit.)

Luke snuck an anxious look at his watch, painfully aware that the meeting that was supposed to be over by 5 was about to pass the 5:30 mark. Normally it wouldn't be that big of a deal to him, meetings were a necessary evil of an otherwise fun job but his head just wasn't in it. Instead his brain was focusing on the fact that across town Reid was at his family's farm without him to act as a buffer.

He checked his phone for the 100th time, no messages. Which either meant that Reid forgot his phone was on silent and hadn't gotten the eleven text messages from the past half hour or that Reid had opened his mouth and his mother had murdered him.

"… Sir?" The lady (he couldn't even remember her name) across from him looked generally worried and he put a hand up over his eyes.

"I am so sorry," he exhaled loudly. "I got lost in my own thoughts for a second. And please, call me Luke."

She smiled. "Happens to the best of us. I'm sorry I ran over time, there is just so much that needs to be done."

He looked down at the proposal the woman submitted and forced a smile back. "Yes, yes there. I'll just give this over to the review board and we'll get back to you in the next week or so."

"Thank you so much," she bubbled and stood up to shake his hand.

He grabbed his keys from the top drawer and veered around the desk. "Let me walk you out."

Maybe rudeness was catching? He wasn't sure and he didn't care. He had somewhere to be.

*

Breaking all laws of physics and reason he made it to the farm in fifteen minutes flat. He had somehow managed to make it without a cop stopping him, either a miracle or finally some good karma for the day and he figured he was entirely in the clear until he stepped out of his car and looked through the window to the front porch.

Seated on the little bench were two familiar figures, even if his brain refused to connect that they were there together.

Reid and Noah, less than a half a foot away from each other, _smiling_.

He thought, maybe hoped, he'd gotten in a car accident and this was some kind of hallucination. Except the front porch door swung open and his little brother came full tilt out holding a Tonka truck in one hand and a toy dinosaur in the other.

  
"YOU'RE HERE," Ethan called out happily as he jumped up at him. The weight was familiar and _real_ and that meant one thing. His ex and his boyfriend were currently not killing each other. Would wonders never cease?

"Hey buddy," Luke put his brother down and followed him towards the house. "What're you up to?"

Ethan shoved the truck at him. "I was showing Reid and Noah how to build a zoo for T-Rex."

"I miss all the fun," he swallowed when he saw Noah's too large smile. "Noah."

"Don't worry, he hasn't been letting either of actually do anything."

"They do it _wrong_," Ethan grumbled, completely oblivious to the tension going on around him.

"Ethan, play nice," he chastised. From the bench Reid let out a low chuckle and Luke's eyes jumped to him. "Hey Reid."

Reid smiled up at him, looking completely comfortable except for the tightness around his eyes. "Luke. You're late."

"My meeting went long. I tried texting you but…"

Reid shoved a hand in his pocket and frowned down at his Blackberry. "Yeah, forgot to turn it back on after work."

"How's everything going?" he tried to keep his voice light but he was a pretty crummy actor.

"Luke honey, you're here," his mom came out onto the porch, wiping her hands on a paper towel. "I was beginning to worry."

Luke leaned over to give his mother a hug and as he did so he whispered into her ear, "You invited Noah?"

"I was picking up some coffee and Noah was just getting off work," his mom said, entirely too innocently. "I figured he could use a nice home cooked meal. He's getting too thin."

He couldn't help the roll of his eyes, but was smart enough not to let his mom see it. He was sure that in her head she was being helpful and inviting. Maybe if it weren't so early in his and Reid's relationship he would be able to get past it. He wanted to be friends with Noah again; it was something that was important. But his family's relationship with Reid was still tenuous at the best of times and just what he needed was to have the ex that everybody loved there for them to dote on.

"I can go," Noah offered, on his feet and moving before the words were out of his mouth.

Lily had her hand on his shoulder before he made it farther than a few steps. "You will _stay_. Luke, tell him to stay."

Luke looked over at Reid, lingered on him for as long as he could without being completely rude and hoped that he could see that he didn't want for this to happen. "Yeah, yeah. Of course, stay."

*

  
"So how did the meeting go?" his mom asked as she handed him a plate of green beans.

He took the share he knew would keep his mom happy and passed it along to Reid. "Well. She seemed nice and her proposal is reasonable."

"I'm sure the board will be happy with that," Reid piped in. "With all the money you've been throwing towards the hospital lately."

"And who's the one who keeps finding things they absolutely _need_?" Luke caught Reid's smile and grinned back at him.

His mom cleared her throat and offered him the next container. Chicken Parmesan. He made an appreciative noise.

"Now you've got my interest," Reid put his hands out. "Hand it over."

"Be careful, Dr. Oliver. Nothing gets you in the dog house quicker then getting in the way of Luke and his mom's Chicken Parmesan," Noah piped in and Reid visibly stilled. It was the first time Noah had spoken since they sat down.

The silence was probably comical if it wasn't so stifling. From his seat next to him Reid looked over at Noah and blinked.

"I'll keep that in mind," he smiled and grabbed the fork off of the plate to spear a piece of chicken.

"When do you think you'll present the bid?" his mom broke the silence.

He gratefully took the distraction. "Tuesday? Do you think you could make it?"

By the time the details were worked out a few minutes later, the table was split into conversation groups. Reid slipped his hand under the table and onto Luke's knee, giving it a squeeze to bring his attention around. That was… well. New but nice. He turned to find that his eyes weren't even on Luke, instead focused on Noah. That was also new, but a little less nice.

"Come on, they're ten back, why wouldn't he want out?"

Noah laughed. "Of course you'd like a cocky hot shot… But you can't run your mouth and not back it up. Oswalt's got what, four wins?"

"You don't have the right back up and even the best players won't produce. Look at Ted Lilly. He's playing well but the offense is screwing him."

"Don't even," Noah held up a hand. "Lilly's one and six. That's his own fault."

"Luke, could you pass the rolls?"

It took a lot of his will to look away. He took the hand that he'd slipped on top of Reid's and leaned across the table to hand Faith what she'd asked for. She tilted her head at him and frowned and he couldn't help but hate the fact that his entire family could read him like a book. He turned back to find Noah in the middle of a sentence.

"… Of course the next pitch knocked that one off."

Both men turned to him, Reid having a ghost of a smile. "You talked about a no hitter while actually at the game. I'm shocked they didn't boo you out of Wrigley."

Luke could feel the pull of annoyance. "I'm sure other people mentioned it."

"Thankfully no one heard him," Noah sounded fond. "But then again it was opening day and the people were more mad at the Rockies."

His cell phone began to ring in his pocket and he grabbed at it gratefully.

"Luke Snyder, you turn that off," his mom glared.

Casey's face looked up at him from the screen but he covered it with a hand and faked an apologetic face. "It's business, I've got to take it."

He got up and headed for the porch, ignoring his mother's repeated call of his name. When the door shut behind him he silenced his phone and sat down on the bench with a sigh.

The door opened and he looked over to see his sister leaning against the jam. "Are you sulking?"

"I'm not sulking," Luke sighed. "I'm thinking."

Faith sat down beside him. "From where I stand it looks a lot like sulking."

"Faith, leave it alone. Please?"

"Your boyfriend and your ex are playing nice, isn't that supposed to be a good thing?"

He rubbed at his face with both hands. "Yeah, it is… But. Not when your ex has made it clear that he hates your boyfriend. With his _fist_. It's just weird, right?"

"Maybe he just feels guilty," Faith pointed out. "It's been a month. Now he's gotten time to think maybe he sees that Dr. Oliver wasn't the problem."

He saw her point. "When did my bratty little sister become a grown up?"

"Well one of us had to," she teased. "Can we go inside now? I think there's pie and your boyfriend has two hollow legs."

*

After dessert, cleaning up and impossibly long small talk, the dinner disbanded with talk of having to wake up early for work. By silent agreement Luke left his car and went with Reid. The car ride was silent, but the silence seemed not to phase Reid in the least.

"Well that was abundantly awkward," Reid commented finally, unbuttoning the top of his shirt and visibly relaxing as they walked into his bedroom. "The pie was good though."

Luke shrugged off his jacket and placed it on Reid's bed. "You didn't seem awkward."

"Were we at different dinners? Because the one I was at had your ex and your mom glaring at me in turns while I was forced to make small talk. Though I got to say I did a damn good job. Bet Bob Hughes would kill for me to schmooze the big wigs like that."

"You know maybe we were at different places," Luke quirked an eyebrow, focusing on the buttons of his shirt. "Cause the dinner I was at didn't have Noah glaring at you. At all."

Reid's hand landed on his chin and forced it up. "Did I miss the part where I pissed you off?"

"You didn't…" he started and then stopped himself. Reid had slipped his hands down to undo the buttons that were annoying him. "I'm being stupid."

"Clearly."

Despite himself, he laughed. This wasn't how he wanted the night to go at all. Reid had actually been on his best behavior, saving the quips and barbs for only when they really needed to be said. (And when it came down to it he liked Reid as he was and his family would have to get used to it.) He should be happy that the night went well and that it seemed like he was on the path to being friends with Noah again.

"Still, are you going to tell me _what_ you're being stupid about?" Reid went to his own shirt buttons and Luke's eyes drifted to watch them work. Reid's hands were possibly his favorite of Reid's features and that was saying something. "Or are we having angry sex tonight?"

Reid slipped off his shirt and Luke's tongue felt too big in his mouth. Scratch the hands; they were nice but maybe the second best feature. "I don't get what Noah was doing. A month ago he decked you at the Lakeview and tonight he was all smiles and talking about _baseball_ with you?"

"So?"

"So… " Luke waved his hands in the small space between them. "I don't know! It was like he wanted something from you… and I didn't like it."

"You're right," Reid nodded and Luke stilled. "That's stupid."

The lump that had been lodged in his throat for the better part of the evening resided and his chest deflated. "Great."

"Luke, you seriously think that even if Noah was hitting on me… which is beyond ludicrous, by the way," his hand slipped into Luke's open shirt. "But even if he was, you'd think I'd care?"

Put like that it did seem a little ridiculous. Or maybe he was just distracted by the way Reid was swayed forward and brought the two of them impossibly close yet not touching. He lifted a hand to just behind Reid's neck and pressed towards each other. Luke felt like he was maybe on fire and Reid wasn't much cooler. It made Luke want to recoil a little while at the same time lean towards it.

Reid took the initiative and bridged the last few inches. There was a soft moan, though Luke couldn't tell which had made it, and then it was hands and lips and _skin_. It felt like too much and not enough at the same time. He sucked the bottom part of Reid's lip into his mouth, this time it was definitely Reid's moan.

*

The next morning Luke braced himself just outside the door of Java. He knew Noah was there, knew what had to be done... yet he was still apprehensive. Some days he felt like it was a decade since he'd been in love with Noah and sometimes he felt like it was still an open wound.

A group walking out him forced the issue and he had to walk in. Noah was in the middle of taking an order but he caught sight of Luke and smiled. Just a moment later it was Luke's turn and he approached cautiously.

"I was kind of hoping you'd show up," Noah admitted.

Luke shoved his hands into his coat pockets. "Well, I thought we should talk about last night."

"Sorry I just showed up, your mom is a little pushy."

He laughed. "'A little' is a nice way to put it. And it's okay. I'm ... glad you came. I meant what I said, you don't have to break up with my family just because you broke up with me." That had sounded a lot smoother in his head.

"I'm glad." Noah scratched at the back of his neck. "Your family means a lot to me."

Like testing out a newly healed limb he tried to push that to feel something. Luke was sure that a few months before that statement would be enough to make his heartache but as it was it barely felt like anything at all. He flexed his hands and swallowed hard.

"But Noah you've got to know something."

"You're with Dr. Oliver now."

He nodded. "I am."

"You seem happy."

Luke almost felt bad for the smile that truth brought to his face. "I really am."

Noah looked away and Luke actually did feel bad for a fleeting moment. "So you want your usual?"

"To go," he hesitated. "And a caramel latte, whipped cream and an extra shot."

  
(Note, I wrote this before today's Cubs game. So, as my husband informed me, I kind of preemptively jinxed a no-hitter _with my mind bullets_. Sorry Lilly.)


End file.
